Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier probably thought he’d come up with a brilliant idea when he thought up the concept of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the new makeshift prison designed to house migrants. The facility is supposed to take in the “worst of the worst,” killers, rapists, and violent thugs. The people being detained by DEI mostly don’t match that description; an Iranian woman who has lived in America for 47 years without committing a crime and never missing an immigration hearing is more the norm than an outlier.
I watched coverage on Fox News of the grand opening of Alligator Alcatraz. Not once did they mention that Uthmeier is currently facing escalating contempt of court charges for ignoring a court order blocking a new, illegitimate, and unlawful state immigration law. Uthmeier prides himself on the extent to which he is willing to go to persecute migrants. To Uthmeier and those surrounding him at the announcement, the cruelty of the prison deep in the Everglades, surrounded by snakes and alligators, is the point. Donald Trump rifted about the best way to run from an alligator, which can reach speeds of up to 35 mph. He said not to run in a straight line but to “zig-zag,” which would “improve your chances by about 1%.”
I live in NE Florida, about 300 miles North of Alligator Alcatraz. It's assumed even here that every body of fresh water contains alligators. I’ve seen them on golf courses, in ponds, and in rivers and lakes. People are generally horrified about the occasional fatal gator attack, like the woman pulled from a canoe a week ago, or the two-year-old boy killed and partially eaten at a Disney resort. The typical victim of an alligator attack is generally an elderly person or a very young child. It’s considered a horrible way to die, unless you are brown or Black.
A Sanford, FL man (think George Zimmerman) told a story to a researcher about how Enslaved babies were used for bait to capture alligators.
“They’d be screaming… What they were doing would help them to chum the water. He said when they would throw the babies in tied to this rope, he said in a matter of minutes, he said, the alligators were on them. He said the alligator would clamp his jaws on that child. As a matter of fact, once he clamped on them he was really swallowed. He said you couldn’t see anything but the rope! Some would be infants, some would be a year old, toddlers, some would be infants.”
Fraser’s Magazine ran the following article:
Time magazine reported the practice continued in Chipley. FL until 1923. A charge the town denies. Postcards like the one shown in the cover photo were sold at Florida truck stops and gas stations. Here’s one from 1940 featuring an alligator killing a Black youth.
The Florida Gator
Have you met the Florida Gator
He is the champion negro hater
Although he finds many things to eat
His favorite morsel is negro meat
The University of Florida only recently stopped using the popular cheer, "Gator Bait," recited while using arms to emulate an alligator's chomp. A personal friend and Florida alum, who happens to be a staunch Republican, pointed out the history of “Gator Bait” and asked the school to stop using the chant. The university had received similar requests over the years, but June 2020 was just after the release of the George Floyd videos. Within five days of Leonard H.O. Spearman’s request, the U of F stopped using the cheer, not without backlash.
Now, in 2025, Florida has constructed a prison in a week out of tents, cages, and bunk beds in the Everglades. The highlighted feature is the swamp surrounding the facility, with one road in and an airstrip to facilitate deportations to other countries. Some people are excited about the prospect of alligators attacking and eating brown immigrants who might want to escape their inhumane treatment. Did I mention bunk beds in cages? What kind of toilets and plumbing were installed in one week? Let the record reflect that there are portable air conditioning units.
Florida Republicans and others have begun marketing Alligator Alcatraz. Should the day come that a migrant is killed in an attempted escape. Don’t look for sympathetic coverage. I expect cheers, maybe Kid Rock will pen a ballad.
Which state will be the next to treat migrants brutally, some of whom might be your neighbors and friends? Somebody somewhere is thinking up catchy phrases that will fit on a hat.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.